Nord Anglia accepts £190m offer

Nord Anglia (NA) has accepted a 460p per share offer from the Baring Asia Private Equity Fund in a deal that values the company at £190m, £10m more than the offer rejected in June. The offer represents a 48.8% premium on 309p closing price on the day before the announcement.

Baring believes that the combination of their regional connections and financial expertise, along with the education competencies of NA, will provide a platform for the next of NA’s growth, especially in the roll-out of international schools.

Initial comments from Barings also indicate that the company wishes to continue to develop NA’s learning services division in the UK and Middle East and will be seeking opportunities to grow the division. Baring’s also expect to retain NA’s current management team.

As reported last month Barings raised $1.52bn in May this year to target growing businesses in Asia with enterprise values between $100m and $500m that require capital for expansion.

Meanwhile NA has reported that student numbers at its international schools at the end of May 2008 reached 4,178 FTE – a 29% increase in its year-on-year numbers.

In recent months, NA’s Learning Services division has closed a number of contracts. These include the Transition to Teaching Programme from the Training and Development Agency (£4m over three years), Subject Learning Coaches from the Quality Improvement Agency (up to £32m over three years) and its third PPP contract in Abu Dhabi to manage an additional six schools (£10.5m over three years).